45 Years Since Man First Set Foot on the Moon

In this day and age of technology, your smart phone probably has more capabilities than the first space ship to go to the moon, but on July 20th 1969, an American made the first footprints on the moon’s surface. This Sunday, July 20th marks the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

The space ship blasted off on July 16th on an historic trip to the moon. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were aboard the Apollo flight. On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon and Buzz Aldrin followed him out the door.

Neil Armstrong's famous quote as he stepped on the surface of the moon, ‘That’s one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind'. Armstrong has said his quote was actually, ‘that’s one small step for ‘a’ man’ but somehow the ‘a’ got lost in space. In any case, the words were said as he took his first step on the moon.

Michael Collins stayed aboard the Columbia command module and circled the moon. All returned to Earth July 24th, 1969 as they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

The last flight to the moon was Apollo 17 when it blasted off on December 14th, 1972.